


Yesterday and Tomorrow

by TheScribz



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, M/M, One Shot, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-28
Updated: 2016-07-28
Packaged: 2018-07-27 09:26:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7612726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheScribz/pseuds/TheScribz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The team gets a surprise when an unexpected figure appears in the Colonel's office.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Yesterday and Tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all, this is my first real attempt at fiction, so constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. I'm still trying to get a handle on writing in people's voices and with their personalities, so please let me know how I've done. I would love to hear everyone's feedback.
> 
> A quick note: this follows the majority of the manga canon, with a few divergences: Maes Hughes goes into a coma and wakes up instead of dying, Edward does go into the universe of Conqueror of Shamballa, but comes back, and Ed never loses his alchemy.

Pounding footsteps raced their way up to his office, and his door slammed open. Shouting was heard from a distance behind the figure in his doorway. Fuhrer Roy Mustang looked up and grinned. 

“You’re late.”

\- 12 Years Earlier -

It was a quiet day in Colonel Mustang’s office. Fuery was tinkering with a radio somewhere near his desk, Breda was playing chess with Falman, Havoc was daydreaming about the newest secretary in Major General Harris’s office, and Hawkeye was glaring at Mustang every time he tried to push his paperwork aside. 

The peace was broken by the door slamming open, revealing an irate Edward Elric, followed by his considerably more amiable sibling, who stomped through the office and slapped his hands on Colonel Mustang’s desk. The stomping jolted the chessboard, and Breda’s king toppled over.

“What the fuck is the meaning of this, Colonel Jackass!”

“Oh Fullmetal, how delightful to see you as always. Tell me, how was Liore? Did it live up to your tall expectations? Or did it fall short?”

Edward turned the most interesting shade of red, and Roy sat back and smirked. Just as Ed was gearing up for a totally-deserved-and-not-at-all-overdramatic rant about how average his height was and that abnormally large assholes should keep their fat mouths shut, thank you, when he was rudely interrupted by a flash of glowing blue light coming from the center of the office.

In an instant, everyone was on high alert. Roy pulled on his gloves, ready to snap at a moment’s notice. Ed transmuted his automail into a blade without a thought. Hawkeye cocked her gun and took aim. The rest of the office took cover behind various pieces of furniture.

The light crackled away with an obviously alchemical flair. Out of the light stepped out a very familiar, yet immeasurably strange, figure.

“At ease, gentlemen.” Fuhrer Roy Mustang smirked.

-

“How do we trust that you are who you say you are?” The Colonel asked, half suspicious, half disbelieving. Hawkeye’s gun was still cocked and trained on the older man, unwavering.

“I hate it when Christmas comes early, don’t you?” The Fuhrer said, and then followed it with, “But only when there’s no mistletoe.”

The Colonel glared, but then relaxed marginally. “At ease, Lieutenant.” Riza lowered her gun, but kept the safety flicked off. “How did you know that code?” The Colonel demanded. The Fuhrer grinned, wide and mirthful. “I’m afraid that what you see is exactly what you get. I’m currently caught up in woefully poor ascension plot. What exactly is the date?”

“September 12th, 1914.” Edward answered, speaking up for the first time. He didn’t drop his guard or return his automail to its original form.

“Fantastic! Exactly 12 years in the past to the dot, then.” The Fuhrer exclaimed. It was disconcerting, for everyone involved, to see the future Roy Mustang looking this way. He stood tall and straight, his black hair just barely touched with grey. He wore an eye patch over his left eye and a smile on his lips. He looked, for the first time in a very long time, utterly at ease and content with his life.

The Colonel brushed his pants off as he stood from behind his desk. “Call Hughes,” he ordered, “and we’ll meet in my house at 1300 hours. Until then, you’re all dismissed. I don’t want to hear a whisper of this to anyone else, understood?” The team snapped a salute and a “Yes, sir!” There was a flurry of action as his demands were met and the soldiers filed out of the room, with the exception of the Elric brothers.

“Brother… How do you think this could have happened?”

“I don’t know Al, but I damn well sure am gonna find out.”

-

Everyone gathered around in the Colonel’s living room. Fuery, Breda and Falman commandeered the couches near the fireplace. Alphonse and Edward stood in the back near the stairs, while the Fuhrer perused the bookshelf with some interest, fascinated to see how much had changed in his academic and personal literature choices. Riza stood guard by the doorway, face as stoic as ever.

The relative peace was shattered by Maes Hughes entering the residence.

“I was told that something interesting was going on, but no one would tell me what it was… and you were not how I left you.” Maes trailed off upon seeing the older Mustang in the room.

The Colonel abandoned his hiding spot in the kitchen and walked into the room. “He appears to be from the future,” Roy grimaced. “We were just about to discuss what to do with him, and how to get him back. You would think he would be more concerned.” He gave a pointed look to the composed older man in the room.

“On the contrary, I’m not concerned at all. I remember this happening as a young Colonel myself. I know what will happen.” The Fuhrer laughed as he picked up a book, snickering to himself as he flipped through the pages.

This was news to everyone else in the room, and they turned their attention fully to him. The Colonel developed a curious glint in his eye.

“Not that I’ll tell you anything, of course. Well, nothing of importance at least. Though Hughes, do watch out for stray bullets.” He carried on, flippant about his warning. “Fullmetal did some research for me after the event was over, it seems to me that this is a fixed loop in the timeline. I won’t or can’t do anything that I don’t remember doing or saying, because I don’t want to risk creating a paradox or changing the timeline in anyway.”

The group at large paused, and thought through his statement. While it was true that for the Fuhrer, everything had happened in the past, for them the future implied choices that they have not yet made, and it was a strange and nebulous concept that this man would have all of that information. Every risk they took, every mistake made… They could change the outcome of the future just by arming themselves with a few words of foreknowledge. To be fair, though, it appeared that the Fuhrer was happy, and it was too large of a danger to imperil that future.

Hughes, seeing this man for the first time, caught his eye on his left hand while doing an assessment of the Fuhrer. “Well, well, well, Roy. It looks like you’ve taken my advice after all! Tell me, who is she? When did you meet her? What is she like?” He grinned, curiosity overwhelming him. The others looked on, shocked to see the wedding band on his ring finger.

The Fuhrer threw his head back and let out a deep laugh. “My husband is rather more he than she. Don’t let him catch you saying that, or risk evisceration.” A pin drop could have been heard in the silence following that statement, though the older man took no notice. “He is, without a doubt, the best thing that ever happened to me. I could live my life a hundred times over and wouldn’t change a thing, because everything that I’ve lived through led me to him.” He said, with a far away look in his eye. He snapped back to the present, and said, “But I definitely can’t tell you who he is. Let’s just say that he’s an intelligent, irascible young man.” He grinned, like he was sharing some kind of inside joke that none of them would understand for years.

“Putting aside the fact that I will eventually be married, and to a man no less, exactly how young are we talking here?” The Colonel asked. The Fuhrer winked, and said “Younger than is most likely decent. But you can’t be too hard on me, Havoc’s wife is the same age.”

With that, everyone turned to Havoc, whose unlit cigarette slipped from his lips in surprise. He fumbled for it, and tried to save face while the rest of the group smirked at his disbelief. Havoc himself was nearly dumbfounded that he would find a woman who would be his wife, despite his nearly disastrous attempts at courting in the past. And an apparently much younger woman, at that.

“I have a wife? And we’re happy?” Havoc asked. The Fuhrer’s smile softened a bit. “Yes, and you’re actually expecting your first born in a few months. Though I have to say, your wife is an utter hellion while pregnant. She rivals my own dear spouse in sheer temper.” Havoc smiled, looking utterly pleased with the news.

“And my dear Elicia? She must be 15 in your time! Is she not still the most adorable girl in the entire world? Do you have pictures? I bet she’s the smartest, most popular girl at her school!” Hughes exclaimed, drawing near to the Fuhrer, who pulled out his wallet. “As a matter of fact, I do. Here’s a picture of us at her last birthday party.” He handed the photo over to his old friend. “She had her first date a few weeks ago, you were absolutely distraught.” He smirked.

The photo was passed around the group, to Hughes’s immense pleasure. The photo consisted of Maes, Gracia, Elicia, Edward, and a sandy blond haired boy that the group of soldiers didn’t recognize, gathered around a large cake. The photo was handed to the Elric brothers, still in the back and uncharacteristically quiet. Edward nearly dropped the photos. “Alphonse… That’s Al’s real body.” The Fuhrer hums noncommittally. Edward is filled with sudden, incandescent rage.

“Is this a fucking game to you, you bastard? What the fuck are you doing here, dangling some fucking hope in front of our faces without telling us how the fuck we’re supposed to accomplish any of this shit! You’re not worried about changing the future at all, are you? You’re just sitting there, as fucking smug as can be, hoarding your secrets like usual while watching the rest of us flounder around from your fucking puppet strings! I’m fucking out of here. C’mon Al.” He stormed off. The Fuhrer briefly looked surprised, then the grin that was becoming oh-so-familiar settled back onto his face. “I forgot how easy it was to rile him up. He mellowed out a bit as he grew up. Not much, but a bit.”

This seemed to cue the rest of the group, who bombarded the Fuhrer with questions. The Fuhrer chuckled to himself, but answered the questions as cryptically as only Roy Mustang could. The Colonel and Hawkeye hung back.

“What are we going to do with him, sir?”

“I haven’t quite figured that out myself, Lieutenant.”

-

At the end of the day, the team left the house. Only the Colonel, the Fuhrer, and Hughes were left behind.

“It looks like you’re finally happy, Roy.” Maes smiled, pleased for his friend. The Fuhrer smiled back just as earnestly, while the Colonel looked vaguely uncomfortable.

“I am, Maes. So unbelievably happy. I never understood what you were always going on about until my husband and I were together. He is a compass that points unfailingly north, unfettered by the iron deposits of the earth that tempt and sway weaker men. He is righteous fury and moral indignation, and so, so god damned passionate. He is the altar of my religion and I can be nothing but the most devout believer in him. Hell, he has me spouting bad poetry, and if that’s not love, I’m not sure what is. I would give the world for him, and he has clawed his way through literal dimensions to stand by my side. I don’t know how I managed it, and fuck knows I don’t deserve it, but he loves me too. That’s a gift I will always be grateful for.” His eyes were love-struck, and the more he spoke, the more self-conscious the Colonel grew. A heavy lump settled in the pit of the Colonel’s chest, something like hope and despair and self-loathing curled up in a writhing mass and made it difficult to breathe.

“A man though, eh? Never would have predicted that one.” Hughes nudged the Colonel, seemingly unaware of his friend’s distress.

“Oh, not so unusual.” The Fuhrer said, quirking an eyebrow. “Just not something I advertised. I never tried to keep my husband and my relationship a secret, though. Not in the least because he would murder me if I ever attempted to.”

“Sounds like quite the handful,” the Colonel piped in, challengingly. “Oh yes, but so entertaining.” The Fuhrer answered, smiling lasciviously. The Colonel averted his eyes, aware that he had lost that little tête-a-tête.

“Roy, exactly how much younger is your husband to be?”

The Fuhrer looked away, seemingly abashed for the first time in this whole ordeal. “He just had his 26th birthday,” he admitted. Hughes whistled lowly, and the Colonel paled. 14 years younger...

This was clearly a more sensitive topic with the Fuhrer. “We didn’t get together until he was 18,” he defended himself, “and not at my insistence. My husband and I had already known each other for a while.” Hughes gave him a considering look. “Is it someone we’ve already met, then? It’s not that far off that you get together with this mystery boy.”

The Fuhrer relaxed his shoulders, which had hunched up tensely. “Well, that would be telling, wouldn’t it? Besides, I wouldn’t want our dear Colonel to have to live with those kinds of expectations about anyone in particular, or anyone he meets, for the next four years.” He winked. “Though I admit, I had my suspicions before we got together. Remember, I’ve lived through this as well.”

Roy Mustang the younger studiously avoided any thoughts of young men he knew that fit into that age range.

The Fuhrer took his pocket watch out and flipped it open, studying the clock. “I’m afraid our time is about to be cut short,” he said, snapping the face of the watch closed with a click.

As if on cue, a blue light burst from the center of the room. This time, it looked to be a portal of some sort, with an office coming into view, as if the living room had been split down the middle like a photograph and layered over this new room. A distinct and readily recognized, irate blond haired man came into the room, spewing curses.

“You fucking pain in my ass! God dammit, do you have any idea how difficult it was to pin down exactly where and when you would be? Fucking piece of shit Fuhrer Bastard!” Edward Elric stormed in, 12 years older and spitting fire. “’Who the fuck cares what trouble Roy fucking Mustang gets in, the fucking Fullmetal Alchemist will always drop everything to save his sorry ass!’ Well I was working on that new fucking Xingese array when you got yourself fucking kidnapped, Roy!”

Edward Elric was a sight for sore eyes. Hair and eyes as bright and gold as ever, and a confidence that was nowhere to be seen on the younger sat like a crown on this older man’s body. The brat had grown several inches, and while he would still not be described as tall by any means, he was also not the short young man that the Colonel and Maes knew him as.

The Fuhrer put up his hands, placating, and said, “You can’t really blame me for my own kidnapping, can you?”

Ed glared him down. “Too fucking right I can! Especially when you knew you were going to be kidnapped today! I was on the verge of a breakthrough when fucking Falman and Fuery rushed into the library, panicking about how you disappeared and a fucking second rate alchemist was cackling to himself in your office!”

“I assume you took care of everything in my absence, then?”

“Yeah I fucking did. Can’t let the country suffer just because we have a moron for a leader. Who the fuck knows how you got elected in the first place.”

“Ah, but it’s just part of my charm, Fullmetal. Not all of us can be geniuses like you and your brother.”

“Hold up,” Hughes broke in. “Elected?”

“Yeah,” Ed replied. “We’ve got a democracy now. Not that it makes much of a difference, considering this fucking military bastard was elected anyway.”

“As I’ve tried to tell you, Fullmetal, it’s the principle of the matter. The people are able to choose who they want to lead them. I just happened to be the best and most appropriate choice. The people recognized that, and have ensured that I lead them.” 

“Yeah, yeah, you smarmy bastard. Let’s get the fuck out of here, you still have to clean up your messes back home.”

“Your wish is my command, as always, Edward. Lead the way.”

The Fuhrer turned back once to wink at the two men in the room, then departed along with the older Elric through the portal. The portal then folded in on itself and disappeared with a loud pop.

“Roy…”

“Yes Maes?”

“Edward…” Hughes paused, trying to organize his thoughts. “Edward was wearing a wedding ring.”

Roy understood the implications behind the statement. He went over to his whisky cabinet, and pulled out the vintage given to him by his aunt for his last birthday.

“We’re going to get very drunk, and never have this conversation.” He pulled the top off of the bottle, and took a healthy swig straight from the bottle, before offering it to his friend. Maes took the bottle thoughtfully.

“I guess you always did have a thing for blonds.” Then he knocked the bottle back, and that was the end of their discussion.

\- 12 Years Later - 

Fuhrer Roy Mustang was busy trying to calm down his temperamental husband.

“You always have to do stupid shit like this, don’t you Roy! You know for a fact that you could have avoided this whole fucking kidnapping scheme if you had put an ounce of fucking effort into it!” The blond shouted.

“I know, my dear, but I couldn’t risk not going and changing anything that happened.” He tapped his forehead to Edward’s. “Besides, I needed a little bit of hope back then. You remember how bad things were after that. We were just at the beginning of a war that neither of us understood. That reassurance helped me get through everything that happened, and your absence. I’m sorry I made you worry about me, my love. I’ll make it up to you,” Roy reassured his lover.

“Yeah, you fucking better,” his husband smirked, and all was right again.

**Author's Note:**

> Maes goes into a coma instead of dying due to the fixed loop:  
> Roy warns him about getting shot because his Hughes gets shot and goes into a coma in his timeline  
> Maes is on higher guard because of the warning  
> Maes fights Envy better and gets shot in a less serious place  
> Maes goes into a coma  
> Roy is aware of the situation, and warns Maes the next time around in the fixed loop  
> The cycle repeats
> 
> Please review and let me know your thoughts, I wholeheartedly encourage constructive criticism!


End file.
